Thrill of a Lifetime

I turned to the business section of the Los Angeles Times on October 17, 2011, and was instantly transfixed by the article with an unusual title, "Virgin Galactic moves into New Mexico spaceport".  Galactic?  Spaceport?  Sounds like science fiction...or something that Buzz Lightyear from Toy Story would say.  I read on, and learned that multibillionaire Sir Richard Branson has invested considerable resources during recent years to make the space travel experience a reality for non-astronaut, paying passengers.  It will be the ultimate thrill ride for those with large amounts of, uh, disposable income.  Instead of paying nearly $100 to go to Disneyland and wait in line for 1-2 hours for the Space Mountain ride, aspiring space travelers have already signed up by the hundreds over several years, for the very reasonable price of $200,000.  Two hundred thousand dollars!  That's nearly four times the median household income in the United States.  I couldn't help but make the following observations:

1.  Sir Richard Branson's going to get a lot richer if he succeeds in this venture.
2.  There are lots of very wealthy people who can afford to drop a lot of money for a thrill ride.
3.  A lot of very wealthy people are very, very bored with their everyday existence.

What kind of experience is worth $200,000?  I thought about the most thrilling, memorable moments in my life, and the list did not include anything that could easily be purchased, at any cost:

1.  My son delivering a game-changing sack against the opposing team's quarterback in a league football game...during elementary school.
2.  My daughter scoring a totally unexpected, game-winning goal as time expired in a soccer match.
3.  My wife surprising me at work during the first year of our marriage, wearing a beautiful floral dress and bringing a large birthday cake for me and my colleagues.
4.  Answers to prayers uttered during my most desperate, darkest moments.

God, in His generous grace, often rewards us with remarkable experiences that sustains us through our days.  Striving for the ultimate experience, on the other hand, tends to disappoint, as King Solomon discovered:

"I said in my heart, "Come now, I will test you with pleasure; enjoy yourself."  But behold, this also was vanity.  I said of laughter, "It is mad," and of pleasure, "What use it it?"  I searched with my heart how to cheer my body with wine - my heart still guiding me with wisdom - and how to lay hold on folly, till I might see what was good for the children of man to do under heaven during the few days of their life.  (Ecclesiastes 2:1-3)


So I became great and surpassed all who were before me in Jerusalem.  Also my wisdom remained with me.  And whatever my eyes desired I did not keep from them.  I kept my heart from no pleasure, for my heart found pleasure in all my toil, and this was my reward for all my toil.  Then I considered all that my hands had done and the toil I had expended in doing it, and behold, all was vanity and a striving after wind, and there was nothing to be gained under the sun.  (Ecclesiastes 2:9-11)

Will the hundreds of fare-paying space tourists be satisfied once they experience supra-stratospheric flight?  Probably not.  For the ultimate hard-core thrill seekers, may I suggest that they experience for themselves, for a nominal charge, colonoscopies without sedation.  Their nerves will scream like they've never screamed before.